This is one of those lists that somebody probably took about 10 minutes working on, tops. I mean, if you are going to call it "The 10 Greatest Movie Hitmen of All Time", why nothing before the 70s? "Oh, gee, Jfro, I'd have to actually get This Gun For Hire from Netflix, that sounds like work," I mean, it's the ur-example, it's even in the title. Notice the way Alan Ladd's character couldn't care less about the people he kills, but shows affection to children and animals, suggesting childhood trauma. Then remember the guy from Leon (plant, child), Ghost Dog (pigeons, child), Le Samourai (bird). C'mon! If it's not a trope, it should be.
The last two would be on my list as well, Ghost Dog for Forest Whitaker's awesome performance (whether Jim Jarmusch should be allowed to direct action movies is another question) and Le Samourai because well, Jean-Pierre Melville and Alain Delon. Not to mention, influencing The Killer sufficiently that Thomas Weisser calls it a remake (it's not--Chow Yun-Fat's character has enough social skills to male-bond heroically in the John Woo fashion--but there are definite similarities). I have to add Goro Handa from Branded To Kill, because he literally goes mad from trying to become the no. 1 hitman in Japan and kills somebody through a sink drainpipe, and also Seijun Suzuki pulled out every stop to make the movie as insanely fabulous as possible.
The author of the Pop Matters article was so lazy he couldn't be bothered to find 10 movies actually about hitmen. There are enough, really. The Bride from Kill Bill is a former assassin we never see kill any one for money (not revenge--revenge movies are a whole other animal), Jason Bourne is an all-purpose super-spy, and Clemenza is in The Godfather for how many minutes? James MacAvoy was fine in Wanted, but the movie didn't really stay in my mind other than the bending-bullets thing.
An honorable mention goes to the character of Crying Freeman, whose best incarnation was a video anime series, so he doesn't really count (I haven't seen 2 of the 3 movies based on the manga, Killer's Romance was pretty good but not top 10 material). I just love the concept. He's a world-famous ceramic artist! Who get brainwashed by Chinese gangsters and forced to kill people! But he cries about it! And then he meets a beautiful girl! But he has to kill her! But then she becomes his girlfriend/partner in crime instead! And then they take over the gang! And get matching full-body tattoos! And run around naked a lot! Ah, the mind of Kazuo Koike . . .
Who's on your hit list?
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